Episode Details

Day twelve of Operation Epic Fury and the Pentagon promised its most intense day of strikes yet. Then everything escalated at once. Iran laid naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz — exploiting a critical gap in American minesweeping capability. A drone struck the American diplomatic facility in Baghdad. A fire broke out at one of the Gulf's largest oil refineries in the UAE. And Iran's top national security official publicly warned Trump to be careful not to be eliminated himself.

Defense Secretary Hegseth refused to say when the war would end, contradicting Trump's short-term excursion messaging from the day before. The Defense Intelligence Agency leaked an assessment that Iran moved its enriched uranium before the strikes began and the programme has only been set back by months — not years. The CIA immediately disputed it. Lebanon's president offered direct talks with Israel. Israel rejected them. Germany warned it has six weeks of gas reserves. South Korea activated fuel rationing for the first time since the 1970s. And the Trump administration quietly unlocked Russian oil exports to cope with the energy crisis from a war it is still fighting.

Day twelve. The Pentagon called it the most intense day yet. Iran called it their heaviest operation since the war began. Both were right.